An ongoing solo exhibition by Eeshani Mitra, a visual artist and zine maker, exhibits her work exploring flowers and various other objects, submerged in a variety of natural and synthetic mediums. Titled ‘Synthetic Flower Dreams’, it runs till July 26 at Method Bandra, Mumbai.
We come from nature like a flower but our dreams and the attempt to ‘beautify’ life become a manufactured pursuit, reads a note on the exhibition.
It adds: “In this series, the artist takes a once living thing, a flower — often while it still looks alive and uses a combination of natural and fabricated elements to process its innate beauty into something surreal. While she attempts to create a certain “look” it is impossible to fully control the exact outcome. The artificial takes on a life of its own, yet is reliant on the presence of the natural. This series is an ongoing experiment in the relationship of the synthetic and natural world.”
As an artist, Mitra constantly moves between the medium of photography, video art and animation.
“I was intrigued by flowers and the preservation processes for it and how different liquids looked under different colours and light. I started developing my process last year. Being confined to my own space, I often found myself shooting my collection of small miscellaneous objects and flowers. What I was aiming to achieve was an unnatural aspect of my natural environment.”
“Originally, it started with me scanning these objects as well as various dried flower articles I’d made. Then I started taking these articles along with freshly cut flowers and submerged them in a variety of liquids, be it water, acrylic mediums, chemicals, and oils to create surreal compositions,” Mitra tells IANSlife about her exhibited work.